Biased delivery gate for filling machine



R. HEGMAN ET Al.

BIASED DELIVERY GATE FOR FILLING MACHINE Filed April 4, 1.961

June 18, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS. ROBERT L. HEGMAN'. ROBERT W. HESS.

CLINTON L. WEBER ATTORNEY.

June 18, 1963 R. L. HEGMAN ETAL 3,094,153

BIASED DELIVERY GATE FOR FILLING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed' April 4, 1961 INVENTORS. ROBERT L. HEGMAN. ROBERT W. HESS.

CLINTON L. WEBER.

5 mm A ATTORNEY.

June 18, 1963 R. L. HEGMAN ET AL BIASED DELIVERY GATE FOR FILLING MACHINE Filed April 4, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS. ROBERT L. HEGMAN. ROBERT W. HESS.

CLINTON L. WEBER.

BY & 7%. $4741.

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,094,153 BIASED DELIVERY GATE FOR FILLING MACHINE Robert L. Hegman, Robert W. Hess, and Clinton L. Weber, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignors to The Safegard Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Apr. 4, 1961, Ser. No. 100,696 1 Claim. (Cl. 141-67) The present invention relates to apparatus for filling or stufiing plastic bags, pillows, cushions, mattresses and the like with compacted air-buoyant material such as kapok.

The present invention is an improvement upon the basic invention disclosed in the co-pending patent application of Robert L. Hegman and Robert W. Hess entitled Filling Machine, Serial No. 811,584 filed May 7, 1959, which patent application will mature into US. Patent No. 2,979,086 on April 11, 1961. Said invention and patent application are assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and patent application.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a machine of the Hegman-Hess type in which the choke or nozzle at the delivery end of the filling machine 7 is in the form of a bafile or adjustable gate. In particular applications this type of construction has the advantages of adjustabi-lity, ease of manufacture and adaptability to a range of requirements.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects, advantages and capabilities thereof, reference is made to the accompanying description of the appended drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1, 3, and 2 are, respectively, front elevation, top plan and end elevation views of a preferred embodiment of filling machines in accordance with the invention;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are central sectional views of the machine, in schematic and skeleton form, provided for purposes of explaining the operation of the invention, and showing the sleeve or ram in fully projected position,

in a partially retracted position, and in completely retracted position;

FIG. 7 is a central sectional view showing the principal operating parts in greater detail;

FIG. 8 is a front elevational view of the improved nozzle or adjustable gate 46, when delivering air-buoyant material, comprising the open convergent delivery end of a filling machine in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 9 is an end view of the gate type nozzle of FIG. 8.

Referring now first to FIG. 7, there is shown a machine ior extrusion of predetermined quantities of airbuoyant material. This machine is valveless, in the sense that there are no valves at the inlet and outlet ends, and no moving parts other than the ram or tubular sleeve 15 and its appendages and associated parts. This machine is coupled to .a conventional pressure-chamber 8 for supplying air under pressure, containing airabuoyant material such as kapok. This supply means consists of a chamber 8 having an inlet end and pressure blower (not shown) and an outlet pipe 25, connected to the wall of the supply means by -a flange 11. The machine further comprises a transfer pipe 10 having an intake end in communication with the supply means 8 and an outlet end 12 projecting into a perforated screen 9 on which the material, after passing through outlet end 12 of the pipe, collects. The tubular screen member 9 is formed as an enlarged cylindrical reservoir extending outwardly beyond the end 12 of the conduit pipe 10.

The reservoir 9 terminates in an enlarged delivery end or extension which may be of any suitable configura- 3,094,153 Patented June 18, 1963 tion, that shown being rectangular, and it may either be enlarged or reduced. Further the extension 45 may be integral with the duct 9 or removably fitted thereto. Between the duct 9 and extension '45 baffie member 46 is swingably mounted on a hinge '47 and the battle is yieldably biased, by spring 48, in such a manner that it normally obstructs the entire end of duct 9. However, during those phases of operation of the machine, when the compressed material is delivered from the end of duct 9, bafiie 46 yieldably opens under the pressure exerted by the delivered material, such as kapok. In FIG. 8 the battle is shown in solid outline in closed position and in dashed outline in open position. Further adjustment of the machine is provided for by adjustment of the bias of spring 48 to control the rate of delivery of material. The elements 46, 47 and '48 constitute adjustable regulating means for controlling that rate.

The peripheral wall of the cylindrical reservoir 9 is perforated throughout. The reservoir 9 is secured in place by brackets 19 and 20, formed with upper cylindrical portions, which embrace and rigidly position the cylinder 9, and with feet secured to base 26.

A tubular ram is concentrically kiisposed in relation to and slidably mounted for reciprocal movement relative to and in the reservoir 9. The ram comprises a tube 15 with end collars 16 and 18. The collar 18 closely slidably fits within screen 9 and ram 15 concentrically slidably fits over pipe 10. The delivery end of collar 18 is divergently beveled as shown at 17.

Means is provided for reciprocating the ram between the projected position illustrated in FIG. 7, and a fully retracted position in which the collar 18 registers substantially with bracket 19. For that purpose, collar 16 is connected by link 37 to a connecting rod 30, which in turn is reciprocally driven by a piston (not shown) contained in a conventional reciprocating compressed air or steam engine 34. Link 37 is formed with integral cylindrical bearings slidably fitted over a pair of guide rods 29 and 31. The guide rods are rigidly secured in place between bracket 36 and engine 34. The trans-fer pipe 10 is rigidly supported in position by a suitable bracket 24.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, it will be seen that the reservoir 9 is provided with suitable hoods 21 and 22, hood 21 being of an inverted U-shaped form and hood 22 being formed as a removable cylindrical cover. The entire machine is mounted on a suitable base 26 which is supported by a leg structure 27, 28, in turn secured to a foundation 35.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, push-button type limit switches 33 and 40 are positioned near the ends of the stroke of member 16 and these switches are cyclically actuated by members 32 and 41, secured to collar 16. The ultimate function of switches 33 and 40 is to control the valving and reversal of stroke of the reciprocating engine 34 by purely conventional means. Switch ac- .tuator 32 is adjustable to vary the stroke of the ram.

Reference is made to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 in describing the operation of a filling machine in accordance with the invention. The description starts with the assumption that the ram 16, 15, 18 is at its fully projected position, at which enlarged portion 18 is adjacent the extension 45. At this stage the end of the compartment 9 adjacent baffie 46 is full of closely packed kapok 42 and the machine has just completed the extrusion of a predetermined amount of kapok, leaving the closely packed material content 42 adjacent the baffle 46. The ram is now retracted to and through the position illustrated in FIG. 5. A draft of air-buoyant material continues to be supplied, through members '10 and 15, in the direction indicated by the arrow A, and this draft deposits material along the inner wall of the reservoir 9 and adjacent the bafile 46, as indicated by the additional reference numerals 42. As the ram continues to be further retracted to the position indicated in FIG. 6, the accumulation of kapok along an increasing length of interior wall of reservoir 9 is continued, until the reservoir very rapidly fills up. At this point the stroke is reversed and ram 16, 15, 13 is projected into the reservoir 9. Collar 18 of the ram closely slidably fits the interior wall of reservoir 9 and it clears the material that is accumulated along the wall, compressing it toward bafile 46 and finally extruding it in densely packed form through extension 45 as baffie 46 opens. Again, the ram is retracted and the cycle is re peated.

Attention is directed to certain features of this construction. In the first place, as the ram is retracted, to the successive positions indicated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the draft of air-buoyant material is supplied to the cylindrical reservoir 9 and the high-pressure air filters outwardly through the ports in cylinder 9, as indicated by the arrows B, after leaving the deposits of kapok along its walls. This action is due to the fact that the ram is of hollow tubular form. Thus, the screen performs the function of a valve for releasing air but at the same time filters the air to deposit kapok along the interior reservoir Walls. Second, over that period of the cycle from the final stages of completion of an extrusion step until the completion of retraction of the ram, the gate 46 and the deposit of material 42 left adjacent the bafile 46 serve effectively as a valve or closure against which the accumulation of kapok is built up. Finally, as the ram is projected into the reservoir, the baffle 46- to some extent tends to retard flow of kapok and contributes to its compression by the ram. The members 9, 45 and 46 form what is essentially an adjustable choke.

This operation is cyclical and continues at a rapid rate. Six to twenty production steps per minute is a suitable rate. As the ram is withdrawn the production operator slips an empty bag or container over extension 45. The bag is filled during the compression stroke of the ram. As the ram again retracts, the full bag is removed and another empty bag is fitted to the mouth of the extension 45. This cycle continues at a productive rate of speed and in a foolproof manner.

While there has been shown and described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the true scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

We claim:

In a filling machine for filling containers with substantially air-buoyant material comprising the combination of means for supplying gas under pressure and containing the material in suspension, a stationary transfer pipe having an intake end in communication with said supply means and an outlet end, a hollow, perforated cylindrical stationary screen member mounted in concentric relationship to and of larger diameter than said pipe and extending beyond said outlet end, a hollow tubular sleeve member concentrically disposed on said pipe and mounted for reciprocal movement relative to and in said screen, and means for projecting said sleeve member to eject material which collects on said screen and retracting said sleeve member to permit said material to be blown onto said screen, the improvement which comprises the following:

a flat baflle member normally positioned at the outer end of said perforated screen and transverse to the axis of said transfer pipe so as to present the passage of ejected material to the exterior and so that material collects on said bafile during the retraction of said sleeve member,

a hinge for securing said bafile member in a swinging relationship with respect to said outer end of said perforated screen,

and spring means for biasing said baffle member into said normal relationship, said spring means being yieldable to permit delivery of material to the exterior during the projecting stroke of said sleeve member when pressure is generated by the compacting of material against the bafile, overcoming the bias of the spring means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 279,746 Hall "June 19, 1883 2,488,395 Goldberg Nov. 15, 1949 2,635,799 Hoy Apr. 21, 1953 2,767,735 Darling Oct. 23, 1956 2,979,086 Hegman et al Apr. 11, 1961 

